Notes on keeping software alive maintenance, modernization, and buying software in the public sector

Written for the people who have to keep a system running, and the people who have to buy one.

August 31, 20263 min read

How to buy custom software under the $15,000 micro-purchase threshold

A contracting officer can put small software work on a purchase card with no competition required. Here is what the threshold actually permits, where the limits bite, and what to ask a vendor for.

Government
Procurement
NAICS 541511

August 31, 20264 min read

What a software maintenance retainer actually covers (and what it does not)

Maintenance retainers fail when nobody wrote down where maintenance ends and new work begins. Here is the line we draw, why we draw it there, and the questions to ask any vendor before you sign.

Maintenance
Care Plans
Pricing

Notes on keeping software alive maintenance, modernization, and buying software in the public sector

How to buy custom software under the $15,000 micro-purchase threshold

What a software maintenance retainer actually covers (and what it does not)

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